Padmavati: Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji exudes menace, charisma

He is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s very own good boy gone bad. After playing two heroic characters – Ram in Ram Leela and Bajirao in Bajirao Mastani – Ranveer Singh has embraced grey (or will it be black?) in the director’s Padmavati. As Ranveer Singh’s look as Alauddin Khilji in Padmavati is revealed, we have absolutely no doubt that the actor is prepared to go where he has seldom ventured before.

From his kohl-lined eyes to the unmanageable tresses as Khilji, everything shouts a spirit hard to control. The deadly scar below the right eye maybe the prize he carries from one of his numerous battles? His is the third look to be revealed after Deepika Padukone’s Padmavati and Shahid Kapoor’s Maharawal Ratan Singh.

Unlike Deepika and Shahid whose characters got a long introduction o social media when their first looks were launched, Ranveer is simply described as ‘Sultan Alauddin Khilji’. While Deepika’s Padmavati was described as “goddess queen” among other things, Shahid’s Ratan Singh was described as “saahas, samarthya aur samman ke Pratik”.

One of the pictures as Khilji show him in his bath, his tresses loose and his chest gloriously unwaxed. The blue-grey gaze is a little bit unsettling.

In another picture released by makers, Ranveer as Khilji wears a gaudy golden crown and looks in a mirror – a moment for reflection, maybe? Or perhaps it alludes to the moment Alauddin Khilji saw Rani Padmini’s reflection in a mirror and was enchanted by her beauty.

Padmavati is based on lore that 14th century ruler Alauddin Khilji fell madly in love with Padmini, the queen of Chittor. Choosing honour over a life in Delhi, Padmini and the other women of Chittor killed themselves by leaping into a fire – a practice called jauhar.

The shooting of the film has been marked by protests as many fringe organisations assumed Khilji will be seen romancing Padmavati in the film. Bhansali and his production house have dismissed such speculation. Padmavati releases on December 1.